Level R
by FlammingAxel
Summary: Ran, a very talented hacker who can hack almost any system, is forced into joining the Mafia for her skill. After this, she has no choice but to move in with Matt in his small, one bedroom apartment. Aside from having OCD and putting up with Matt's laziness, Ran also must struggle to keep this whole thing a secret from her romance-obsessed friend while holding down her job MattxOC
1. Just a Game Store

Just a Game Store

_I don't own Death Note or any of its characters_

Ran tapped her finger tips on the counter, her eyes locked onto one particular customer. Her chin rested lazily on her palm as her narrowed eyes followed the every movement of the customer. He had been in the store for the last 10 minutes, skimming the shelves, reading the spines of countless games and occasionally pulling one out to study the cover. It was not any of those things that bothered Ran, however. What truly bothered her was that he was _smoking_ in the store. Not only was it against the law* but his actions were also driving other customers away. Ran would have thought it to be obvious that you are not supposed to smoke in a public building, especially where there are young kids that constantly file in, looking at and trying the newest games. Ran saw it as a terribly irresponsible thing to do. As an employee, she would have to speak up and request that he stop smoking immediately.

Ran drew back her tapping hand and lifted her head from her palm as she realized that the smoker was making his way towards the counter she was currently manning. He approached her and set two games on the glass countertop before digging his gloved hand into his pocket, pulling out his wallet.

Ran blinked as she approached the chance to examine the man's choice of attire. Being a game store clerk, she had seen some pretty wacky clothes ranging from rainbow dash sweaters to cookie monster track pants. She couldn't exactly say that his fashion sense was strange, it was mostly unique. After all, she had never seen someone to wear goggles and gloves paired with a fuzzy vest and stripes. Ran mentally shook herself back to reality as she narrowed her eyes at him.

"Uh, there's no smoking indoors, sir." Ran spoke as she slid the games closer to her.

"I didn't see a sign anywhere." He remarked. Despite his words, he took the cigarette out of his mouth and pressed it to the counter, extinguishing it.

Ran looked down at the dead cigarette surrounded by gray ashes with displeasure.

"Now I have to clean that." She muttered before proceeding with the checkout.

Her fingers punched keys on the computer's keyboard at a remarkable speed as she used her free hand to scan the two items. As she did so, the man slightly leaned on the counter, his blue** eyes catching sight of Ran's white nametag that was pinned to the left side of her chest. Her ridiculous boss forced all of her employees to where one on account of her even more ridiculous assistant manager who ran the store that Ran worked in. The assistant manager believed that all game store workers should reveal their name to the customers as a kind gesture (in which their boss agreed to) and what better way to do so than to have a nametag stabbed above your boob.

"Ran...that's a pretty weird name." The customer stated.

He had unknowingly triggered a pulse of anger in her but Ran struggled to keep her polite composure towards a valued customer.

"Yes, well it's all based on personal preference. Your total comes to $85.95; will that be cash or debit?" The customer pulled out money from his wallet and placed it on the counter which clearly answered her question.

Ran eyed him at from the corner of her eye as she opened the cash register and jammed the money in it.

"I didn't know employees here had to where nametags. It's kind of unusual." He spoke, still leaning on the countertop.

"It's a mandatory feature." Ran stated, obviously annoyed by his trivial chatting. The customer chuckled slightly.

"You get easily annoyed, don't you?" He said with a grin as he accepted his change and grabbed onto the games.

"_No, it's just that you're an extremely annoying person that I've only known for 5 minutes." _Was what she desperately wanted to say as a cheeky comeback but that action would get her in huge trouble with her boss. Ran curled her lips into a forced, cheerful smile as she spoke in a fake, sweet voice.

"Have a nice day. Please come again." She hoped that he would take that as a hint to leave, not only because she didn't want to talk to him anymore but also because if they did continue to chat, she might allow a rude remark to slip from her tongue which would not result well.

Luckily, the customer shoved the games into his vest-pocket and pushed out the door. Ran's eyes remained glued to his back as he made his way down the busy street until he had completely blended with the rest of the crowd.

"Hm..." Ran returned herself to her previous position as her wondering gaze darted from area to area out of boredom. It finally landed on the crumpled cigarette that lay extinguished in a small surrounding of grey ashes. Ran crinkled her nose at the sight of the vile object dirtying the clear glass of the counter that she had only just cleaned half an hour ago. She stared burning holes through the cigarette, contemplating on how to dispose of it. Finally, she slowly brought her hand towards it and clenched it between her index and thumb. Ran brought the cigarette towards the trash bin and tossed it in before using her sleeve to carefully dust off the remains.

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"You sure you're okay to lock up, Ran? I mean, your house _is_ the farther one." Terry asked, a concerned expression consuming her face.

Ran gave her friend and co-worker a reassuring smile as she waved her off.

"Yeah, I'll be fine, Terry. Seriously, you worry too much." Ran said as she hopped over the counter, landing with a stumble. Terry bit her lip before letting out an exasperated sigh.

"Alright, see you tomorrow." Terry spoke, exiting the building after some hesitation.

Ran waited until her friend was out of sight before she began to secure and lock everything. Once the store was completely locked up, Ran tested the doors one last time by pulling on the handle, firmly. Everything was set, which meant she could finally go home.

As a chilling gust flew past her, Ran shivered and buttoned up the last couple of buttons on her black coat. She shoved her icy hands into her pockets and began walking down the street in the direction of her apartment building. As she was walking, Ran shot a glance up at the dark, star-scattered sky that enveloped the entire area in a moonlit night. Despite the chilly weather of an upcoming winter, it was a fairly nice night. As risky as it was for an 18 year-old girl to be walking alone at night, Ran actually preferred the isolation and absence of other people. The street that she walked home on was never populated at night-time which made it that more peaceful and quiet. A small smile slid onto her face as she continued her trek, eyes still attached to the dark sky.

Her peace was shattered into a million pieces as the sudden sound of what seemed to be a video game, infiltrated her eardrums. Her eyes darted to the source in somewhat of a hostile manner. The source had managed to catch her off guard for a moment. It was the customer from earlier, sitting on one of the street benches, glued to a hand-held gaming system. Of course, there was a cigarette in his mouth as well that let off streams of gray smoke in the air. He was mostly shrouded in the darkness of the late hour other than the light from the small screen illuminating his features.

Ran blinked before thoughtlessly approaching him, her expression soon changing to a stern one. For some reason, Ran just didn't know how to mind her own business.

"You know, it's pretty dangerous to be outside alone at _night_." She spoke from behind him.

There was a long pause that stretched between them until he finally peeled his attention from his game and glanced back at Ran. He held his gaze on her for a moment before allowing it to fall back to the small screen.

"Well, between the both of us, I think you're the one that's more at risk." He said. Despite having his face turned away from Ran, she could hear the grin in his voice. Ran narrowed her eyes at his comment but instead, chose to ignore it.

"So what are you even doing out here, anyway?" She asked, suddenly being struck by a strange curiosity.

"Sorry, I was taught not to talk to strangers." He joked, thumbs still bolting from button to button.

"Ch, well then." She scoffed, the curiosity being replaced by an itching annoyance.

She wasn't even sure why she was wasting her time talking to some random smoker who may or may not be some sort of creeper or drug addict (in Ran's mind, everyone she didn't know fell into one of those categories). Ran shoved her hands deeper into her pockets as she started down the street, away from the bench. Once she was a fair distance away, Ran glanced back to see whether the stranger was still there or not. As she expected, he had not budged. She whipped her head back around and continued walking, shooting glances over her hunched shoulder only to see each time that he had not moved.

"_Doesn't this guy have anything_ better _to do?"_ Ran questioned herself. It was odd to see someone alone, playing on a hand-held at such a late hour. There was no way that he could be old enough to already be on his own. But then again, Ran was only 18 and she lived alone, but her circumstances were different. Ran sent one last glance towards him before she rounded the corner, cutting herself off from him completely.

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Matt focused on his video game as the girl, Ran began walking away. As minutes ticked by, Ran had gained a fair distance but Matt couldn't shake the constant feeling of eyes darting back at him. It was most likely the girl though he couldn't quite grasp why she continuously shot glances at him. It wasn't as if they legitimately knew each other, so why worry about him? She didn't even know his name. Matt decided not to gaze back at her considering that if he did so it would only result in awkward eye contact which was not too fun. In order to avoid that awkwardness, he would just simply pretend that the game store employee was a non-existent figment of his imagination until she left sight range. Matt slowly drew his eyes in the direction that Ran had walked once he was certain (or at least, mostly certain) that she was gone. Luckily for him, she was nowhere in sight. A short wave of relief washed over him as Matt contently returned to rescuing princess Zelda from danger.

Just as he had managed to fully indulge in the game; his phone went off in his pocket, sending disturbing vibrations onto his leg. Matt paused and set his portable console onto his lap as she pulled out his vibrating phone. The caller ID read: "Mello" in vibrant, orange letters. A small sigh escaped his mouth as he pressed "talk" and held the phone up to his ear.

The reason he was not exactly content with the fact that his only friend was calling him was because of the _reason_ he was being called. Mello was not the type to call someone just to say hello or see how they're doing. The only reason Mello ever calls Matt is if he has troublesome task set for him to complete.

"Yeah?" Matt "greeted" as he un-paused his video game and proceeded to play it with his free hand.

"Matt, I have a job for you." Mello stated, straight to the point.

"Yeah, I'm doing fine, thanks for asking." Matt spoke, sarcasm apparent in his tone.

"Come to the Mafia base within an hour. I'll tell you the details then." Speaking those final words, Mello ended the call, ignoring Matt's sarcasm.

Matt sighed once again as he too, ended the call and slid the phone back into his pocket along with his video game. Matt stood from the cold bench and made his way to his parked car. He opened the door and sat inside, starting it up.

"The Mafia base, huh? I can probably make it there within half an hour." Matt thought aloud, more as a challenge for himself as a small smirk curled his lips.

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"You're late." Mello stated as Matt stepped down the concrete stairs into the unwelcoming lounge.

"I got pulled over for speeding." Matt spoke, almost solemnly.

Matt dragged himself towards where Mello sat, passing a few other members that where either typing away at a computer, drinking or enjoying the company of a woman. Matt dropped next to Mello with a sigh.

"So what's this job you have for me?" He asked.

"...A kidnapping." Mello stated.

Matt's nonchalant expression never wavering as Mello continued. It wasn't as if Matt had never kidnapped anyone before, of course he didn't exactly enjoy it but the request left him unfazed.

"I've managed to find and track down who it is you'll be kidnapping. She's a talented hacker who can hack into almost every system. I think it will be very beneficial to have her apart of the Mafia...of course, I wouldn't expect her to come quietly so that's where _you_ come in." Mello paused for a moment to take a bite of his chocolate bar. "Do you follow?"

"So I'm supposed to bring her to the base and then you handle things from there, right?" Matt confirmed as he let out a loud huff of breath. "She better be cute." He muttered to himself, slouching himself in a more relaxed and comfortable posture.

Mello held out a glossy photo towards Matt between his index and middle finger.

"This is her picture. It's not very good but it was the only one I could find that at least showed _most _of her face. She's pretty good at keeping her identity concealed." Matt took the photo and further examined the face of the girl.

He found himself to feel slightly surprised upon realizing some very similar features that this girl and the worker from the game shop shared. Out of all the people, could this infamous hacker truly have been that outrageous tomboy? Though, since the photo did not show her entire face and was a little on the blurry side, there was still no way to tell for sure. There was still a small chance for her to be a cute, beautiful supermodel.

Matt listened intently as Mello shared the rest of the information that he had managed to dig up which, truthfully was not much. It merely consisted of where she worked and what general hours. Unfortunately for Matt, Mello's information only further justified his theory of this hacker turning out to be that clerk. Matt hung his head as he muttered his agreement, unenthusiastically.

"Right, I'll get on it tomorrow night."

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"Oh, Ran, you'll never guess what happened in the book I'm reading!" Terry exclaimed in sickening glee as she approached her friend who was currently replacing a poster.

"What happened?" She breathed, clearly used to Terry's obsession over romance.

"Taylor _finally _broke up with William! It was about time, now there's a chance that Taylor and Trevor can be a thing." Terry beamed, hugging said novel close to her chest with a large grin forever glued to her face.

"That's great, Terry." Ran spoke, sarcasm coating her words.

Terry's chocolate eyes peered through the thick lenses of her glasses as she frowned. "Gee, thanks for caring, Ran. It may not matter to _you_ but I take shipping _very_ seriously and to me, this was great news."

"Yeah, yeah, sorry to say this but I really don't _care_ about Taylor's love life. She's just a fictional character from a corny romance novel. If it were manga, _then_ I might've cared a little." Ran stated as she straightened the new poster she had just finished displaying. Ran had been told before that she had OCD and under certain circumstances, she couldn't exactly deny it.

Every inch of her apartment was in perfect order and alignment. Her bed was always neatly made with exactly three decorative pillows to top it off. Her home was always squeaky clean no matter what, mostly because of the fact that she was an insane clean freak who couldn't even stand a speck of dust landing on her pristine floors.

"Well whatever. Hey now that I think about it, you remember that smoker guy you were helping yesterday? Wasn't he kind of cute?" Terry's signature smile made its return as she leaned on the wall, the book still clamped tightly in her arms.

"Okay, I know you want a boyfriend and all but I had no idea you were actually _desperate._" Ran scoffed as she turned on her heel and stalked back to the abandoned counter.

"Hey, what do you mean "desperate"? I'm not desperate; I was just speaking my mind. Jeez, what kind of friend _are_ you?" Terry whined, her smile soon dropping suit.

"One of a kind." Ran answered, simply as she hopped over the counter.

Instead of landing swiftly on her feet, however, Ran fell flat on her belly, causing a loud thump to echo through the store. Her face burned from the searing pain that the rug had brought her as her limbs went numb for a moment, allowing the pain to settle and disappear. "Ow..." She muttered as she shamefully peeled herself from the floor and dusted off the clinging dirt and other fluffs from her clothes.

"Are you okay?" Terry asked, clearly stifling a burst of laughter that was dying to escape.

"Fine." Ran sighed at her utter failure to hop over the counter in a badass way. It always happened, unfortunately. No matter how hard or how many times she tried, Ran just could never hop over that counter without stumbling or falling. The laughter that Terry had attempted to hold back, slipped out the moment it was given a chance. Terry burst into a fit of laughter, obviously finding enjoyment out of Ran's pain and misery.

"What kind of friend am _I_? What kind of friend are _you_?" Ran scoffed, a look of displeasure folding over her face.

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Ran slowly sauntered down the darkened sidewalk as she mentally made note of what she would plan to do for her day off tomorrow.

"_Hmm, seeing a movie with Terry sounds fun...or maybe if I went out and bought myself a new hoodie, that would be a nice gift to me. Oh, maybe—"_ Ran's thoughts received an interruption as an uneasy feeling punched her stomach, causing little butterflies to flitter in her gut.

She slowly dragged her head to glance behind her when suddenly a dark figure dashed from the alley beside her. The figure quickly threw one arm around her torso, restricting any further movement while with the other, covered her mouth and nose with a cloth. Ran's reaction was delayed by her shock but once her mind was slapped back into reality she struggled and flailed under the man's hold in a desperate attempt to escape. Just as she took a gasp of air, she immediately regretted it. The cloth was soaked in a drug that infiltrated her nose. Upon inhaling it, Ran's tense and shaken body fell limp, the man letting go to allow her body to fall to the ground. The man's thin lips twisted into a sinister grin of pleasure as he let out a cackle.

"That was easier than I thought. It's a good thing this chick walks alone at night everyday or this woulda' been a hell of a lot harder." He spoke, directing his comment towards his accomplice who still stood, shrouded by the shadowy alley.

"Yeah, with this, we were able to avoid following her and stuff. It was a lot easier." Matt exhaled a puff of smoke as he stalked towards the girl that lay limp on the walkway. He examined her for a short period of time, wondering how to get her in the car without violating her. He may have been a part of the Mafia but he was no pervert. One thing that both he and Mello shared was a certain respect for women, meaning even if given the chance they would not intentionally "grope" a girl. But on the other hand, how was he supposed to pick her up without accidentally touching her thighs, hips, chest, torso or crotch? Sometimes, kidnapping a girl was tough.

Matt finally stepped over Ran and decided to turn her over onto her back with her shoulders. Once turned over, Matt awkwardly slid his hand under her knees and scooped her (or at least attempted to scoop her) into his arms. Unfortunately, she was slightly heavier than he had expected, causing a great struggle for him to get her from the ground and into his arms. Matt let out a grunt as he finally hoisted Ran from the cold floor, feeling a sense of victory that one would feel after completing a very hard boss battle that took a million tries to beat. He shuffled towards his vehicle with Jack trailing closely behind him. Jack opened the back door, allowing Matt to slide Ran onto the seat. As Matt stretched out his already "overworked" muscles, Jack applied a blind fold, a.k.a his tie since Matt was too lazy to find something else to use before they had left.

Matt sat in the driver's seat and started up the car with Jack following suit. He drove down the road down the way to the Mafia base. The entire drive was blanketed in a thick silence with Jack occasionally throwing glances at the passed out passenger. By the time they had reached to base, Matt had managed to go through two cigarettes, leaving him with only on for the next day. The two exited the car. Once they were out, Jack opened the back and threw Ran over his shoulder. A wave of relief washed over Matt for the fact that he would not be burdened with carrying her himself. He threw his cigarette onto the dirt and stomped on it in order to put it out. There was no frigging way he would ever put out a cigarette on his _car_, besides video games, Matt's car was equivalent to one's significant other. Extinguishing a lit cigarette on his vehicle would be like stabbing your own child with a toothpick.

Matt went on ahead into the base, not bothering to wait or Jack and headed towards the lounge where he was sure to find Mello. As he started down the hall he could pick up on Jack who seemed to be lagging behind him, most likely because he was burdened with carrying Ran on his shoulder.

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Ran could feel a heavy grogginess weighing on her head as she lazily peeled her eyes open. She could only see darkness, was she in some sort of dark room? It had only just then occurred to her that she was wearing a blindfold. Ran lowly and wearily pulled it off, allowing it to drop to the concrete floor. There was no need for her to squint her eyes since wherever she was, was lit by very dim lighting. It took a long while for her to process the fact that she was not in a familiar place...or the fact that she was upside down, thrown over some man's shoulder. A musky scent of cigarette smoke and alcohol was all she could pick up on as she slowly lifted her neck and glanced around before turning her head to get a look at the man holding her. He was rather tall and sported a white suit and blonde hair. Those features were the only things she could see from her angle, however.

Finally it had tuned in that this man _must_ have been the figure that attacked her while she was walking home...and he had taken her to an unfamiliar place...and god knows what _else_ he might of done to her. Many thoughts had emotions rushed into Ran's head all at once causing her inner strength to turn into complete turmoil. The only thought that seemed the least important at the moment was the same reoccurring one that continued to pop up every couple of cycles that her mental tornado circled around.

"_I have to escape."_

Ran's dark eyes warily glanced up at her assailant with fear taking over them completely. Luckily he had not noticed that she was awake yet which provided her with the perfect opportunity to get away. On top of that, her hands were unbound and free.

Finally building up as much courage as she could conjure at the moment, Ran sent a stone-hard punch to the back of the man's head, holding none of her strength back in the process. He let out a loud "Gah!" of pain and surprise as he began falling to the floor. Once Ran felt his grip loosen, she jumped back and landed a powerful blow to his ribs before bolting in the opposite direction. Just as she had turned and began her sprint of escape, another figure stood before her. With her adrenaline pumping harder than a stereo, Ran didn't bother to take in the figure's appearance and instead, kneed him right in the balls with enough force to send a man to his knees in pain. Sure enough, her attack had worked just as it was supposed to and the figure dropped to the ground, clutching his crotch.

As soon as the two obstacles were out of the way, she darted down the concrete hall at her fastest speed. Ran probably would have been able to escape if not for another person shoving a metallic object to her head as she rounded the corner. Judging by the sound of the weapon cocking, she could only identify it...as a gun.

**A/N: Well, I hope you enjoyed the first ever chapter of this story and I hope you will enjoy all the chapters to come **** please review and tell me what you think of this story so far. **

***It is against the law right? I can't remember :\**

****Yeah, sorry to all the people that prefer Matt with red hair and green eyes, it's just I wanted to stick to the official colouring of the anime so I really hope it doesn't bother anyone too much**

**Anyways, thanks for reading **


	2. There's a Difference Between You and I

There's a Difference Between You and Me

_I don't own Death note or any of its characters_

Ran's face, permanently twisted into a look of pure hatred, rested on her hand, glaring out the window at anything the vehicle passed. Her gaze was sharp enough to pierce through any substance, including steel. Her mind was a mess of boggled up emotions such as sadness, fright and the one emotion that showed most of all, the only one she would allow on display: anger. She was angry—no, _furious._ She was furious at the fact that she had been barbarically kidnapped, she was furious at the fact the those mafia bastards were able to discover her well-hidden identity, but most of all, she was _infuriated_ that she was now being forced against her will to join their idiotic mafia group all because of her outstanding hacking skills. The memory of involuntarily joining that poor excuse for a feared group was still fresh in her mind, scratching and kicking at the front. She could still remember the mixed emotions of terror and rage that she had experienced throughout the time of being threatened.

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_Ran's teeth bit deeply into the inside of her lip in a nervous manner, refusing to release its hold. Her hands shook profusely in her lap but she put all of her strength into keeping her expression hard and steely. Her eyes remained fixed on a blonde man speaking to her. _

"_Well? What's your answer?" He pushed for a reply. His face was painted with confidence as if he had already won the battle._

_The cockiness laced in his tone just seemed to trigger Ran's anger and cause her blood to boil inside, despite the same, lumping fear that sat, lodged in her throat. Her glaring gaze flickered around the room like a small flame burning its victims. The room they were occupying appeared to be a lounge of some sort, sporting a large couch, a table and a few computers in the corner. Besides her and the blonde, there were two others sitting on the couch. The large and muscular one seemed to be the leader, judging from the two men standing behind him in a defensive manner, and the woman wearing a miniskirt that was cuddling to his side as if he were some sort of god. Ran's eyes hovered over every visible exit, each blocked by one or two men. Unfortunately, there wasn't even a window or vent either. No escape. Her gaze finally landed on the other man lounging on the couch. The one she had kneed in the crotch (who was holding a bag of ice to said area). _

_Ran had recognized him immediately upon seeing his face when she was dragged into the lounge. There was no doubt that he was the guy who was smoking in the game store earlier. If his head was not hanging over the back of the couch than he would have been getting Ran's deathly cold glare piercing through his skull. _

_She still could not believe that the idiot she had met earlier in the day was actually a mafia member. He hardly seemed like the type. Ran wondered where they even found guys like _that_. Finally after moving around the room and studying each person, her eyes flicked back to the blonde. _

"_Let me guess, you're the only _intelligent_ one here, am I right? After all, you _are_ the one doing all of the talking and negotiating, which means everyone else in this room must be an idiot with a gun." She retorted. The blonde that she had mostly addressed the observation to remained unfazed, still retaining his confidence while the others exploded into protests and threats._

"_What'd she say?!"_

"_You little bitch!"_

"_C'mon, boss, lemme shoot 'er!"_

"_Why're we even wasting time with this chick, Mello?!"_

_They all yelled, the sound of guns cocking echoed through the uproar. The blonde, Mello, Ran picking up on one of them addressing him as such, paused for a moment. After the uproar had settled, he continued. _

"_So you're observant too." He stated, receiving an annoyed grimace in return. _

_Despite her shaking fear, Ran forced out a short-lasting laugh. "The answer is no. I'm not going to join this pathetic excuse for a mafia." Ran retorted but immediately regretted speaking._

"_Fine then, it's your choice. I should just let you know that we can't exactly let you go. If your answer is a "no"... then we'll have no choice but to kill you." Mello spoke. _

_Just as he had done so, the fear that had dug deep into her throat had finally shown itself by sweeping over her features. At that moment, Ran could feel every gun...pointing at her._

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Ran still couldn't completely process the entire ordeal. Apparently she needed to be "monitored" for a little while, which meant that she would either have to get cameras and wire taps installed in her apartment or temporarily move in with the guy she had kneed (who she had come to know as Matt). As much as Ran was against the entire thing, she had no choice. She did not have the power to take on an entire mafia and if she refused then they would simply kill her without a second thought. But still...what was she going to tell Terry? That she temporarily moved in with some mafia geek? And what was she going to do about her job and her _own_ home? Mello said she would still be allowed to work and go on with her daily life since he wouldn't want to raise suspicion. Despite that, it wasn't as if Ran even properly _knew_ Matt and yet here she was, in his car's passenger seat on her way to see her new "home". It had all happened in one single night, it being three in the morning now.

Ran heaved a sigh, sending a spiteful side glance to the driver. Matt had the window rolled down, allowing the chilling air to gust itself into the car. He had a cigarette (much to Ran's dismay) in his mouth, allowing the streams and huffs of smoke to seep out the open window. The uncomfortable silence that had stretched on between the two of them had gone unnoticed by Ran up until this point. She had bombarded herself with so many thoughts that she had not realized how awkward the silence had become. It had not taken long before Ran succumb to the long, speechless moment and finally pierced it, of course, starting the conversation with the most awkward and strange topic.

"Sorry I...you know, possibly ruined your testicles." There was a small silent moment that spanned for a few seconds before he replied.

"Well, it barely hurt anyways." Ran quirked a brow, slightly amused before pouncing at the opportunity to make a comeback.

"Hmm, well you know what they say, 'The smaller it is, the less it hurts'." Unlike last time, Matt did not reply, instead he kept his eyes glued to the road ahead of him. "Oh, not denying it?" Ran teased.

"Uh, not really. It's just that I don't get why you're so interested." He joked.

Matt had half expected Ran to continue their little war with a snappy retort but instead, she had surprised not only him but herself as well when she let out a laugh. Her continuous laughing had stretched on for a few moments more, a couple of snorts coming out as well. Somehow, the short occurrence had managed to lighten the mood a little as if the thick smog that hung between them had lifted. Once she had settled slightly, Matt spoke.

"Wow, so you _can_ smile. And here I thought you were just a grumpy old witch with a B." Upon speaking, Ran's face fell into a grimace as she hmph'd and turned back to the window in her previous position.

"Well _that_ wasn't long-lasting." Matt commented as he exhaled a puff of smoke.

The remainder of the drive was spent in a very similar, uncomfortable silence until the car had been parked in a parking space. Once the car was at a full stop and Matt had taken the key from the ignition and the two made their way to the front entrance, Ran's footsteps echoing close behind.

When they had entered the lobby, Ran took a short moment to examine it. The decor was fairly simple and clean, sporting two velvety couches and a couple of arm chairs to support the vintage look. The brick fireplace in the corner seemed to complete the design, however.

"_Well...at least the building itself doesn't seem like a total dump."_ Ran thought to herself as she shoved her chilly fingers into her coat pockets while following Matt into the elevator. He pressed his finger to a button before withdrawing his hand back towards himself to grip his cigarette between his fingers. Ran glanced towards the board that held all of the floor's buttons. There were twelve floors in total; the one button that was lit by an orangey-white glow was number ten, however. The elevator halted suddenly, shortly after moving and the door slid open. Ran stepped forward, preparing to exit the cramped space but was held back by a hand gripping her shoulder. She sent a questioning glance back at Matt.

"Not our stop yet." He said, vaguely as he pressed his cigarette onto the wall. His action managed to trigger a slight sense of curiosity in Ran.

Why had he extinguished the cigarette that he had only just lit not too long ago? It wasn't as if she had displayed any sign of dismay on the matter and she had not said anything either, though her true thoughts clashed with her actions.

There was a small shuffling noise that grew louder as if the source had entered the elevator. Ran glanced to her side, eyes landing on the people that had just joined them on their trip up. A fairly small woman pushing a baby carriage held shopping bags on one arm while the other hand was clenching tightly onto that of a young boy's. Ran's thin brows raised slightly as the fog masking the reasoning behind Matt's earlier gesture became clear. She almost felt a bit shocked at it.

"_Don't tell me this idiot's got a considerate side?"_ She thought, the door sliding closed while the woman tapped a button, harshly. Her eyes lingered on the mother, for a short while, examining her. The woman had long, blonde hair and sported the deepest, darkest green eyes that Ran had ever seen, it almost made her jealous. The boy next to her appeared to be no more than seven years old. He had a slightly chunky form and very short, dark hair. He had a small stuffed animal hamster tucked, carefully in his chubby arm...or at least, it _looked_ like a stuffed animal. Suddenly the hamster wriggled under the boy's hold and its pink nose flittered up and down as it sniffed the air.

"_Oh, you've got to be kidding me. That's a _real_ hamster? Why the heck is he just carrying it around like that?"_ Ran had almost missed the voice of Matt trying to gain her attention.

"Hey, Ran."

"Hmm?" She muttered, glancing back.

"Hold out your hand." He commanded, a slight grin gracing his features. Ran's brows knit together in confusion while the boy's head now turned towards the two.

"Why?" She questioned, a harsh tone embedded in her voice.

"Just do it." He pressed. Ran simply sighed, expressing her defeat and held out her small hand, palm upwards. Matt quickly dropped something onto it before withdrawing his hand and speaking "Merry Christmas."

Ran glanced down at the object he had placed in her palm, almost chucking it back at him upon sight. It was the extinguished cigarette butt that Matt had been smoking only thirty seconds earlier. Her features twisted into a look of pure distaste and annoyance with the mafia member's childish action.

"Wha—you—you-little son of a—" Ran could barely form a protest as her head whipped back and forth between the mess left in her hand and the creator who wore a large, pleased grin. There was a sudden eruption of innocent, child-sounding laughter from behind them. Only at that moment had it occurred to Ran that the young boy had been watching the two of them the entire time and found great entertainment in Matt's stupid trick. Kids were so easy to amuse. As Ran shot the young boy a look of great displeasure, Matt's grin only became larger at the sight of the happy boy who, in return, grinned back. The sign did not go unnoticed by Ran. Her expression softened, realizing the purpose of that little stunt.

"_So he did that just to make the kid laugh?" _

The woman turned her head towards her son before sending a warm smile towards the both of them, almost as if to wordlessly say "Thank you". While Matt's grin remained strong, Ran folded her lips to one side as she hurriedly dropped the cigarette to the ground once the woman and the boy looked away. Soon after, the elevator stopped at the ninth floor and the lady pushed the carriage out of the elevator, pulling her son along. The door closed once more and the elevator silently vibrated as it flew up one more level.

Its doors opened, Matt stepped out and began stalking off down on of the dimly-lit halls with Ran following suit. They walked down the seemingly never-ending hall until they had stopped at number 032. Matt pulled out a key ring, only baring at most, five keys and stuck one into the lock.

Ran prepared herself for the worst. She couldn't begin to fathom how much of a mess his apparent may be. But on the other hand, perhaps it would not be as bad as she was expecting. Maybe it was just a normal apartment that wouldn't drive her OCD crazy? Just a few adjustments would be able to make it tolerable for a short while. Ran stopped herself there. She had no idea why she was driving her exhausted brain on the brink of insanity all over a simple apartment that she had not even _seen_ yet.

She inhaled deeply as the white door opened, revealing an incredibly dark room. Matt stepped inside, carelessly tossing the key ring onto the nearest surface in a lazy manner. He did not bother to turn on the lights before calling out into the apartment.

"I'm home, Evangeline." Ran raised a fine brow in confusion. From what she had heard, Matt apparently lived alone.

"_Apparently not..." _She thought before questioning the subject.

"Evangeline? Who's that, your _girlfriend _that nobody knows about?" She teased, still resembling a statue in the hallway.

"Girlfriend? Hmm, you'll have to ask her that." Matt chuckled. Ran pressed her lips into a straight line, displaying clear distaste in his answer.

Just as she had parted her chapped lips to speak, Matt flicked the switch on the wall, illuminating the dark apartment with light, causing everything to be visible. Her jaw had almost hit the floor upon witnessing the sight before her. There apartment held little furniture and the walls remained a disgustingly plain gray while the poor excuse for lighting tried its hardest to remain ablaze. The carpet was stained, the floor littered with dishes, cans and other copious amounts of trash. The small, black couch that sat in the middle of a large tangled pile of cords sported a large tear on the side. Various cameras that sat on stands overlooking the streets below from the window only just able to peek form the thin areas that the cheap blinds provided. The ashtray on the coffee table was completely overflowing with extinguished cigarette butts sat next to a few other dishes and glasses along with three different laptops.

Ran's face was written with utter horror at the sight of every little mess, every little object, stain and piece of trash that sat out of place, scratching at her brain and begging to be made proper. As she stood in frozen shock and disgust, Matt sauntered into the apartment, tossing his vest onto the nearest couch before lazily slumping himself down suit.

"Well, make yourself at home, I g—" Matt was cut off mid-sentence by the sudden yelling coming from the terrified girl.

"This place is disgusting! How the hell can you _live_ in this dump?! Honestly, it'll take me _years_ to clean this hellhole and make it an acceptable living environment!" Ran screeched as she slowly stepped into the house and began studying its features more closely, almost bewildered by the filthy place.

Matt felt unfazed by her judgmental criticism (considering the fact that he got the same words from Mello but rather he nagged Matt into the dreadful shackles of cleaning). Instead, Matt simply blinked.

"Hey, no-one said you had to clean anything. If I can live in this apartment for two years than you should be able to handle at least a month or two." He spoke, nonchalantly but his words fell on deaf ears as Ran had proceeded to mumble angrily to herself while examining the pile of dishes that had been stacked and stuffed into the poor formally pristine sink.

It was only after Ran had completely skimmed the entire main portion of the apartment (consisting of the kitchen, living room and the abandoned, never-been-used dining room) had she finally broken the silence with an exasperated huff.

"This can't even wait until tomorrow morning; I _have _to take care of this mess right now!" Ran exclaimed as her gaze flew over the apartment once more.

"Holy mother of cod, this is going to take me days." She began. "Words can't even begin to describe how disgusting this place is. I'm surprised you haven't crawled up and died in your own filth yet."

"What's that supposed to mean? Look, I'm not exactly thrilled about this whole thing either, y'know." Matt added, feeling a bit offended by her last statement.

"Ugh, where do I even start? I wouldn't be surprised if I find a new species hidden in this pigsty!" She yelled, slightly louder than intended.

Matt let out a sigh as he peeled himself from his seat.

"Well you can do whatever as long as you don't touch my stuff. I'm going to bed." He shuffled over towards his bedroom, opened the door and flopped onto his very welcoming mattress and enveloping himself in its fluffy, warm embrace.

Ran had obviously ignored him as she began scavenging for items to clean with. After about ten minutes of searching behind every door and inside every pantry, Ran discovered an untouched broom collecting dust behind the fridge, a few garbage bags and unused disinfectant spray. She mentally thanked the heavens that they were all untouched since she would need way more than half a bottle of cleaning fluid for this place.

She began with the kitchen, wiping down every counter, washing every dish and organizing whatever was in the pantries and fridge. Ran then zipped through the other parts of the house, dusting, sweeping and picking up all of the trash that littered the apartment. Unfortunately she could not vacuum considering Matt seemed to fail to acquire one but no matter, she made do without one. Ran paid no heed to how much time passed while she cleaned. Her OCD provided her with a one-track mind at times such as these.

Ran would have ventured into the bedroom but despite her hardened outer shell, Ran felt it to be rude if she woke him. She simply turned away from the closed door and proceeded to clean the rest of the place.

"_Well...this apartment won't be pristine...but when I'm done, it'll at least be somewhat tolerable."_

By the time Ran was complete; the entire apartment had been fixed to her liking...well, almost to her liking. Every piece of furniture sat perfectly straight in its position. The cupboards were organized perfectly while the countless remotes and laptops had been placed together perfectly on the coffee table. She admired her handy work, almost thinking about how good of a maid she could be but there was no way in hell she would ever do a career like that. The only mess that still lay in place was the pile of tangled cords on the floor. The sight of it made her eyes twitch and her grind. Ran would have cleaned it but the cords were so deeply tangled with each other that she was sure no human being could separate the forming abyss; therefore, it was the only thing that remained untouched besides the bedroom.

)))))))))))))((((((((((((

A loud THUD echoed throughout the room, causing Matt's sleepy eyes to snap open. He found himself staring straight at the ceiling, one leg still propped on the bed that he had most likely fallen off of. He glanced to the side where the only light source illuminating the room was. Rays of light beamed into his dark bedroom, causing him to squint. Matt pulled his disoriented goggles back into place he kicked off the blanket that remained intertwined with his legs. A low groan escaped his lips as he dragged himself from the floor and into the living room. Matt had just about tripped over the teen that lay curled up on the floor in the living room. Her eyes were slid closed and her steady breathing caused her form to move up and down slowly. She held the empty cleaner fluid bottle close to her chest as if cuddling a teddy bear. Matt crouched down next to Ran, examining the bottle that she held. He lightly attempted to tug it from her grip for health reasons.

"Hey, I don't think you should have this so close to your mouth." He joked, quietly, aware that she would not hear him nor respond.

Ran groaned as soon as he had managed to pull the container from her death squeeze. He tossed the empty spray bottle into the trash before his gaze began to wonder the apartment. She truly _had_ cleaned it and quite well. All of the trash was absent along with the piling dishes and dust. Much to his pleasure, the cords, cameras and computers remained untouched, besides the fact that their position had been slightly altered. Matt spotted his vest hanging on a coat hanger (one of which he was completely unaware of for quite some time) and made his towards it, pulling out the packet of cigarettes from the pocket. He popped the last one in his mouth before flicking his lighter and lighting it.

His eyes trailed back towards Ran's sleeping form whose nose had scrunched upon inhaling a small amount of smoke. Her brown orbs flickered open, a look of confusion sweeping over her features.

"Why am I on the floor?" She spoke in a slightly hushed tone but genuine confusion laced itself in her tone.

"I don't know, you tell me. Exactly how much cleaner fluid did you drink last night?" Matt spoke, leaning his back against the wall, its hue darkening from the lack of light.

Ran sent him a menacing glare as she sat herself up, finally reliving her aching back from the hard, flat floor.

"What did you _do_?" She spoke, suspicion clear in her voice.

"Nothing. What do I look like? A rapist?" Matt defended as he exhaled a puff of smoke.

"Yeah, you're right. You seem more like the "forever virgin" type." She scoffed, reeling her eyes to the side.

"Who said I was a virgin?" Matt's statement caused a bone in Ran's neck to snap and whip her head to face him, a look of pure disgust plastered to her naturally steely face.

"Kidding." He said simply, earning a scowl from the young woman.

Ran snorted before rolling onto her knees and standing from her spot on the carpet. She threw her arms into the air, releasing the tension in her spine with a couple of cracks. Her gaze shot towards the clock, examining the brightly lit numbers n the stove. Ran narrowed her eyes, attempting to make out what it said. Her face dropped and her eyes snapped wide as she gaped at the time the clock displayed.

"Oh SHIT!" She cursed before lounging towards the couch and gripping her jacket. Ran threw it over her shoulders and shoved her arms into the sleeves as fast as she could. Matt merely observed, curious as to why she was suddenly in a hurry.

"What?" He asked.

"I'm late for work, idiot!" Ran barked as she struggled to do up the buttons of her coat, mildly cursing Terry for buying her a jacket that had both a zipper and buttons. "My shift started _two hours _ago!"

Once she had managed to pull herself together, Ran dashed for the door, swinging it open. Matt just observed, slight amusement sparking onto his features. Ran had managed to run halfway down the hall before she abruptly ceased and spun around on her heel. Her eyes were narrowed into a glare directed straight at Matt who now stood, leaning on the door's frame.

"I don't even frigging care, just drive me to work, it'll be faster!" She demanded before speeding towards Matt and latching onto his elbow.

"Hey, hold on! The door, the door! I also have to give Evangeline some breakfast!" Matt yelped while being harshly dragged down the hall by Ran (who was surprisingly strong).

"Your imaginary girlfriend can wait!"

Just before she could pull him out of reach of the door, Matt grabbed the doorknob and pulled in closed. With each stumble Matt made, Ran's pace quickened while her grip became tighter.

"Why the rush? If you're already that late, why bother showing up? Just make some excuse—" He was cut off by the piercingly icy voice coming from the girl he was addressing.

"You're an idiot. Unlike you, I care about my career and would rather earn my money in an honest way, _not _by doing dirty work for an effeminate chocoholic and his gorilla friend. Besides, I've _never_ been late before in my _life_!" Ran shoved him into the elevator, resembling a cop escorting a prisoner to jail.

"You know, you'll never get a boyfriend if you continue to be like this the rest of your life." Matt stated while tenderly rubbing his elbow. She could strangle a professional wrestler to death in less than ten seconds with that grip.

"Who said I will ever want a boyfriend? Or _need_ on for that matter." She spoke, crossing her arms over her chest.

Once the elevator came to a stop, Ran stalked out, making a sharp turn for the front entrance. Matt's footsteps echoed behind her in a calm, lazy manner. By the time he had made it to his car, Ran was already tapping on the roof, clearly displaying her impatience. He dug his hand into his pocket, in search of his keys only to come face to face with the realization that his keys were absent. He searched his other pocket, then his two back pockets for good measure, despite already knowing the mistake he had made.

"Uhh..." Ran's eyebrows knit as she warily turned to the young man.

"You didn't..." She bellowed, threateningly.

"I guess I did." Matt said, almost amusingly from the entire mishap on Ran's part.

"Well then go get them! And be quick!" She snapped before Matt lazily obliged.

Ran began pacing back and forth after what had seemed like an eternity of waiting. The chilling air nipped at her bare fingers that had whitened from the temperature, Ran's scowl quickly forming into a look of unsettlement and worry.

"I'm going to get fired for sure!" She exclaimed loudly, catching the attention of a couple passer-bys.

"Ran?" A familiar voice spoke in slight confusion. Said girl whirled around, eyes landing on Terry and being locked in the same confusion as her brunette friend.

"Wh-Terry? What are you doing here?" Ran questioned in disbelief.

"Well, I was just on my way to see how you were. You didn't answer any of my calls." Terry spoke, a frown tugging her lips downwards.

Ran almost wanted to slap herself for her own stupidity and inconsideration. Mello had confiscated her phone from her and the thought of Terry trying to contact her had not once crossed her mind. Ran mirrored her friend's frown before replying.

"I...I'm sorry. I lost my phone yesterday..."

"Oh, I see. Well anyways, what _are_ you doing out here? Out for a walk?" Terry said, her casual smile returning.

"No, I was just on my way—wait! What the heck are you doing here?! Shouldn't you be at work?!" Ran yelled, horrid confusion clearly displayed on her already downing features.

"Work? What do you mean? It's Saturday!" Terry replied, a laugh escaping her lips at the sight of Ran's defeated expression.

"Oh...you have got to be kidding me." Ran pinched the bridge of her nose, ignoring the giggle that came from Terry's direction. So she didn't have to rush at all...which meant that she had roughly dragged Matt outside before yelling at him and making him go all the way back.

"Great, now I feel bad." Ran muttered to herself but her words did not fall on deaf ears.

"Hm? What for?" Terry questioned. Ran glanced up at her, forcing a weak smile, her eyes drooping from lack of sleep.

"Nothing..." Terry pursed her lips, obviously preparing to fight back but quickly changed the subject upon doing a close once-over of Ran.

"Hey, Ran? Did...something happen to you?" Ran's smile dropped as her chapped lips parted in slight uncertainty.

"Why do you ask?"

"Well...it's just that, you loosing something and your phone, may I add is just...I don't know, not like you. And not to mention that I found you pacing in some random parking lot, looking like a complete mess."

Ran's expression flattened as she allowed a thin silence to blanket over them. Terry truly _didn't_ miss a thing but now that she had mentioned it, Ran _was_ a mess. Her untamed hair was a greasy, wild tangle of strands while her eyes bared dark rims beneath them and was drained of any life or energy that had once lingered. Her pale face bared clinging dust and a small, circular bruise on the side of her face that was inflicted on her, most likely when she fell unconscious last night.

"I...I..." Ran had absolutely no false words to cover up her disasters state and no crazy stories to tell. "Nothing happened..." She muttered, averting her gaze from the brunette's piercing gaze.

"So, how's Taylor and William?" Ran asked, desperately attempting to change the subject. Terry pursed her lips once more as she mumbled a displeased reply.

"I don't ship them, remember?"

"Oh yeah..." Ran could feel the weight of Terry's suspicion crash onto her shoulders as she threw glances in every direction possible, one of which directed towards the door to the building.

"_Now that I think of it, where the hell is Matt?"_ She thought, her nervous expression being replaced with that of confusion.

"What are you looking at?" Terry questioned, tracking her gaze to the source. "Are you waiting for some—" Terry jumped in surprise once Ran's head abruptly flew back around, resembling an owl.

"No, of course not! Anyways, you better be going now!" Ran grabbed hold of Terry's shoulders and began shoving her down the sidewalk.

"Wah? But—no, we aren't done here!" Terry protested as she tried to free herself from Ran's grip by wriggling around like a child.

"_C'mon, Ran, think fast!"_ She mentally yelled at herself. Unfortunately, no good excuse to get Terry to leave came to mind. Just when Ran was sure things could not get any more stressful, Matt stepped out of the building, keys in-hand, eyes searching, most likely for her. Terry's eyes grew slightly larger once she caught sight of him.

"Hey, isn't that the guy from yesterday?!" She exclaimed, rather loudly, causing Ran to cringe. That was it, she was out of options, and there was nothing more she could do. Ran hated that she had been brought to her last knee, her final option.

"Sorry to have to do this to you, Terry!"

"Huh?—" Before she could respond properly, Ran reached for the nearest object within range and hit Terry right in the side of the face, sending her best friend to the ground, out cold. A large frown set itself on her face as she examined Terry's now unconscious form. She tossed the object she had hit Terry with (which happened to be the top of a trashcan) to the ground.

"_What kind of friend _am_ I..?"_ She mentally scoffed before adding "_A twisted one."_

**A/U: Well, second chapter complete **** Thank you very much to the people who reviewed on the first chapter, that made me feel very good **

**QUICK QUESTION: What do you think o Ran? Please, feel free to let me know**

**Thanks for reading!**


	3. Showerheads and Stressful Times

Showerheads and Stressful Times

_Disclaimer: I don't own Death Note or any of its characters_

Ran rubbed her eyebrows, exasperated from the events that had occurred. Not only did she knock out her best friend, but she and Matt had no choice but to bring her back to her apartment. Ran had no idea what she had been thinking when she had hammered Terry with the lid of a trashcan. Now she would have to deal with a crap load of questions and lectures from her, mostly centered on why she was struck down. She had no idea why she had thought that the easiest way to escape and avoid the situation was to _knock her out._

The two were driving back from Terry's house after they had thrown her into her bed. Despite sneaking Terry back into her own home, Ran still couldn't help but feel the tormenting whirlpool of emotions that bubbled inside her. She couldn't help but feel guilty for knocking her out while at the same time worried about how this situation could be dealt with. The stress of it all weighted down on her, feeling heavier than stone. It was quite clear on her features how she was feeling, not bothering to mask her emotions behind a steely expression.

Ran dropped her head to the dashboard, ignoring the spark of pain that now rested on her forehead.

"I'm such a horrible friend." She muttered in a pathetic state.

"Just curious...why'd you knock her out in the first place?" Matt asked as he slowed to stop at a red light.

The anger that had been overpowered by her other emotions, exploded from its prison.

"Isn't it obvious, idiot? The _last_ thing I need is for Terry to find out that I'm in the mafia. She was getting way too suspicious about everything so I did what I had to! Plus, do you really think that I want her to know that I also live in that troll cave with a dope like _you_?" She added an empty laugh at the end to put emphasise on the absurdity of the whole ordeal.

"But what are you going to do when she wakes up and sees that nasty bruise on her face?" Matt asked, the ghost of a grin gracing his features.

"Then I'll officially announce that she's crazy." Ran said, forehead still resting on the dashboard. "Actually, come to think of it, what the hell took you so long to get your keys?" She inquired while snapping her head up to face him, a skeptical glare narrowing her eyes.

"Well after you messed with my whole apartment, it took me a while to find them." Matt answered, his nonchalant attitude causing a vein of anger to twitch within Ran.

"Messed with?" She echoed, completely dropping the subject of Terry in order to express her clear offence to his reply. It had been brought to her attention once before that she tended to forget about subjects quite quickly. "I didn't "mess with" your apartment, I _cleaned_ it you idiot!"

"Well you touched my stuff so that counts as messing with it."

"Jackass." She spat under her breath.

"Hey, it's hurtful when you call me mean names." Matt said, only his ghost of a grin finally materializing into a large smile.

Ran scoffed as she slumped into her seat, arms crossed, gaze glaring forwards. Her posture greatly resembled a very unhappy child that had just been denied what they wanted. The pose she took on made it even harder for Matt to accurately guess her age. Though her face appeared matured enough, her wild, messy hair gave her the "I-don't-care" look that most children would sport. Her height helped none considering she couldn't have been more than 5"1, nor did any of her other..._female_ features. Overall, Ran's age was a deemed a mystery since all of the aspects made her look childish but her voice and face said otherwise, as did her language. Though there was the fact that she supposedly lived alone and also had a job.

After sending one last side-glance in her direction, Matt had finally settled on the guess that she was sixteen...no more like fifteen now that he did another side-glance. His last glance did not go unnoticed by the displeased teen. She turned her head, knitting her brows signifying her confusion.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"Uh, no, you glanced at me, what is it?"

"Like I said, it's nothing." Ran scoffed before proceeding with her previous action.

There was a short blanket of silence before the car reached a stop. Ran, not paying attention to her surroundings, did not bother acknowledging the halt until she heard Matt shift the gear. She examined him, confusion and question written all over her former glaring face.

"Where are we?" She asked.

"Getting something to eat, I don't feel like making anything." Ran folded her lips to one side as she replied with half-lidded eyes.

"And by "making anything" you mean stuffing something in the microwave, yeah?" She scoffed only to earn a chuckle reply.

"You catch on fast." He stepped out of the car and slammed the door behind him. Not waiting for Ran to follow, Matt dug his hands into his vest-pockets before heading towards the main entrance. Ran tilted her head to the side in an attempt to see beneath the roof of the car. She lifted a brow at the large black sign that hung above the doorway. It read "Diner" in bright, blinking red letters.

"_How original._" She thought before stepping out of the car and starting for the door, taking slow and shuffled strides. Once she had entered, the low sound of 80's music and the bright beams from the light fixtures attacked her. She grimaced at the intense lighting and decor. The walls were cluttered with different vintage records, pictures of old musicians and various other posters. Each bright red booth was lined with black and white checkers while the small, round tables sported high chairs. Ran almost felt as if she had walked through a time machine and ended up thirty years in the past.

Her wondering eyes lingered on the different record albums hung on the blue walls. It was almost interesting to see how times had changed within a few decades. It had taken quite some time before Ran realized that she had been standing, awkwardly staring around the room, unaware of the hostess before her.

"Miss? Table for one? Miss?" She spoke.

Ran's head snapped towards the source of the high-pitched voice that had been addressing her.

"Uhh, yes—wait no! I mean, yes I want a table but...there should've be another guy that came in before me. I'm with him..." She spoke, trailing off as her gaze hovered over every table with her brows knit together.

"_What the...where the hell is he?"_

The hostess bared a strange look as she examined Ran slowly circling her eyes around the restaurant. The curiosity itching at her brain, the hostess took one quick glance around the room. There was only five other customers, two of which were men but other than that, there were no other possible candidates or her vague description.

"I...I know that he's here." Ran spoke, the confidence that previously fuelled her words, draining away like water in a sink.

"You sure? Maybe you mistook him for someone else?" The young woman tilted her head, a small pang of sympathy forming inside her for the clearly confused customer.

"I..." Before Ran could complete her sentence, her eyes caught onto another waitress who had approached a vacant booth, the one side obscuring Ran's view of the table itself but it was clear that no-one was there. The waitress pulled out a pad and pen from her apron as her mouth began to move as if she was speaking to someone. Ran quirked a brow before realization smacked her upside the head.

"_That bastard better not be—"_ Ran's theory was proven true as she stomped towards the "vacant" booth only to see Matt sitting down with his back arched and his chin resting on his crossed forearms. Ran slid herself into the booth, the anger clear on her steaming features. A small grin curled on Matt's lips.

"So you saw through my little prank, huh?"

"The idiocy of it all was a dead give-away." Ran replied, a mock smile developing on her face before quickly dropping back to its original form, similar to a beautiful woman turning back into a beast.

The waitress, pad and pen in hand, stared at the two strangely before turning her attention to Ran. "And what will you be having, hon?"

"Water." She snapped, her eyes flicking down at the long menu before tearing back to the patient waitress. "And a chocolate ice cream. Actually...make that two." The waitress nodded sharply before grabbing the menu that lay on the table's surface and stalking off.

Ran rested the back of her head on the booths surprisingly hard back. She heaved a loud, exasperated sigh as her eyelids slid over her chocolate-coloured orbs.

"Come on, cheer up." Matt said while bringing the small flame of the lighter to the untouched cigarette between his lips. Ran almost wanted to laugh at his words but was unable to even manage a smile at the moment.

"Cheer up? How can I when I have to put up with your bullshit? I already have _enough_ to deal with and you go and pull a stupid stunt like that." She hissed, eyes remaining closed, causing her calm demeanor to clash with her tone. "And why the crap are you smoking inside, idiot. Do you _want _to get us kicked out?"

"That's why I love this diner. They're cheap...and they allow smoking indoors." Matt spoke with a grin. Just as he had done so, their waitress sauntered over and placed the glass of water in front of Ran.

Her eyes tore open slightly, before peeling her distressed back off the large booth and slumped forwards. She pulled a small bottle of pills from her coat pocket and lazily twisted the cap off. She tipped it in her hand and shook it until two blue capsules fell onto her palm. Ran popped them into her mouth before swallowing a large amount of water.

"You're on medication?" Matt asked, his question being more of a statement.

"No. These are just painkillers for the headaches I get when I'm stressed." She answered while screwing the cap back on and shoving it into her pocket.

"Is your life really _that_ stressful?"

"Not usually but yes, my life has been pretty shitty as of late." Ran growled the last part of her sentence before sinking further into her seat until her head was almost invisible from Matt's angle. "Why me?" She groaned, helplessly.

After a short moment, a waitress skipped out of the kitchen, a plate in one hand and a bowl of ice cream in the other. A bright smile seemed forever glued to her face as she approached them and set the two dishes down. The waitress was a different one. She was much younger and her cheerful attitude matched her preppy and utterly hideous uniform. Her bouncy, blonde hair swayed with each movement she made.

"Here you are! Is there anything else you'd like?" She chirped, glancing between Matt and Ran. Matt opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by Ran as she scooted herself back into a proper sitting position.

"No." She stated simply as she straightened the cutlery perfectly.

"'Kay!" She squeaked before turning on her heel and bouncing towards another poor soul that would have to deal with her sickening sweetness.

She gripped her spoon and began digging into her ice cream, each bite bigger than both her utensil and mouth could handle. She ignored the smears of chocolate that dirtied her face only for a few moments as she allowed her senses to indulge in such a delectable and comforting treat. Ran normally turned to the therapy of ice cream when she felt stressed or when the situation called for it. She had to say that the situation, indeed called for it. As she scooped more and more mouthfuls of ice cream into her mouth, Matt observed from the other side of the table with a small grin at her fast pace of eating. Come to think of it, neither of them had had anything to eat in the past twenty-four hours or so. It made sense that she'd be eating so much and at such a pace but then again, Matt had a feeling that her speed was not based on the emptiness of her stomach.

Once she had completely devoured her first bowl, Ran slid it aside, being sure to place it right in the middle of the table before digging into her second. After about two spoonfuls into her treat she slowly trailed her eyes towards Matt, realizing he had been watching her the entire time. She gave a skeptical look while shoveling another scoop into her mouth.

"Whart's wif yuh sharing aht meh?" She scoffed, her mouth obviously overstuffed. She swallowed the ice cream before continuing. "You know, I don't like you at all."

"You don't have to like me; you just have to work well with me."

"What if I can't work well with you?"

"Then you just have to put up with me."

"What if I can't put up with you?" She hissed in a low tone, putting some emphasise on the fact that she found it hard to deal with him.

"Well then it sucks to be you." Matt said simply as he shovelled some food into his mouth. (He must of extinguished his cigarette without Ran noticing).

Ran's lips curved into a venomous scowl as her glare remained unblinking on Matt's nonchalant form. After a moment, Ran slid from the booth and began stomping in another direction. Matt glanced up from his dish, brows raised.

"Where are you going?" He asked.

Without sparing as much as a glance his way, Ran replied, her tone close to a yell from the distance that had gained between them.

"I'm going to go voice a complaint to the chef on why your food wasn't _poisoned._" Her retort only earned her slight grin once she rounded the corner and entered the bathroom.

"Your sarcasm hurts, Ran."

The heavy, metallic door swished closed behind her as Ran stalked towards the sink. Her palms rested on the edge of the marble counter while her back hunched, displaying all of her stress and distraught in one gesture. A loud and long breath was exhaled before Ran pulled her head up to meet her mirrored gaze.

Her stress and other boiling emotions were apparent on her poor excuse for a face. Ran had to admit to herself that she looked close to death with her glazed over eyes and pale, lifeless features. Her lips were straight, being the only part o her showing no emotion at all. Ran heaved yet another sigh before she muttered: "Oh, Ran, how did all this happen?"

_She could hear every noise echoing through the eerie hall and bouncing from the naked walls. Every tick of the inaccurate clock and every hearty, drunk laugh that came from the woman she feared. She clenched the crinkled paper in her small hands. The tormenting images of her mother lounging on the couch shadowed onto the walls like monsters haunting her dreams._

_She slowly crept down the foyer until she reached the woman, the root of her fear, the base of her sadness, the starter of her confusion. Her mother. Said woman was on the leather couch, taking large swigs of alcohol from a bottle while she laughed merrily. Her cheeks were tinted with a scarlet hue._

"_Mommy?" She timidly spoke as she approached her mother._

"_What'd you want?" Her mother slurred._

"_Well...my class is having a trip and I was wondering...if I could go!" She thrust the permission slip that she had been clutching onto the entire time as if it were only form of comfort and life. _

"_Ran, ya' know what I told ya' 'bout those...things." Her mother tipped the bottle once again and gulped down the rest of its contents. "They're scams that try to milk us poor things of every last penny we own but lucky little you~, you got a super smart mom who spots these things a mile and a half away!"_

"_Yeah but...but Terry—" She was cut off by the booming and abrupt voice of her mother._

"_Don't interrupt me! Or, I mean stop with this Terry stuff, how am I supposed to focus or do anything when I have to put up with your _bullshit_?! I work all the time to get us money while all you ever do is sit on your lazy ass and do nothing like the little brat you are! I've been raising you for eight years now, giving, giving and giving and then all you do is ask, ask and get in the bloody way! If you ever want any money in this life, the only way to get it is to either get a friggin' job or steal it, your choice, idiot!"_

Ran clutched onto the edge of the counter even tighter at the sudden attack of that memory. That memory in particular was one of the worst from her childhood. Sure, she had been through much worse and received much more severe punishments and lectures but that memory was by far, the most haunting. Once Ran was sure that she had successfully locked it away, caged it within her mind and would never see it again, the same memory would replay in her mind like a film. It was so clear, not a single bit forgotten or blurry. The reason it haunted her so badly...the reason she dreaded that memory...was because it always reminded her just how much she resembled her drunkard of a mother. It reminded her just how alike they had grown to be, from the terms they used to the hand gestures, all the way to their facial features.

Ran _hated_ it. She _despised_ it, no, she despised her _mother._ The simple thought of that woman caused Ran to clench her teeth together in a deathly tight and angered manner. Suddenly the large, heavy door swished open revealing the bubbly waitress standing with her brows furrowed in confusion yet her smile still was remaining.

"Sorry to bother you but your boyfriend over there asked me to check on you to make sure you were alright." She stated.

"He's not my boyfriend." Ran snapped. "In fact, he's the last person—" She suddenly stopped herself midsentence as she regained a straight composure by removing her hunched figure from the sink.

"_You're doing it again...you're being like mom."_ Ran mentally scolded herself.

"T-thank you...f-for checking up on me." She sputtered before exiting the bathroom, feeling slightly embarrassed that a waitress had to come check up on her in the washroom. A part of her accused Matt of sending the waitress in only for the purpose of making her feel embarrassed and uncomfortable.

She slid back into the booth and ignored Matt's smart comment on her position of being in the bathroom for so long. Instead, Ran continued eating away at her large amount of ice cream that lay beginning to melt. It was not long after that she had finished the bowl she had been working on and had eaten through another two. After Ran had eaten more ice cream than her body could most likely handle, they paid the bill and left the diner. Ran had to admit that she was glad to be out if that place and have the chance to breathe fresh air that wasn't mixed with the cringe-worthy smell of fast food and tobacco. Ran inhaled a deep breath and held it in her lungs for a moment before letting it out through her nose. They got in the car before driving off to the apartment.

To be honest, Ran had not allowed her mental or physical exhaustion to spread its wings and affect her greatly but now that she had just eaten a large amount of ice cream, her grogginess began to spread throughout her body, weighing her down. As much as Ran wanted to simply close her eyes and rest her head on the window for a well needed and frankly, a well deserved rest, Ran could not allow herself to display such vulnerability. She was sure that Matt wouldn't rape her in the car, or at all for that matter but after she allowed her distressed side to peek from the depths of her being when she carelessly ate all that comfort food, Ran was not about to show what affect this whole thing was having on her.

As her mind was sternly set on her thoughts, Ran's head began to nod while her heavy eyelids slowly began slipping closed, despite all of her internal protests and scolds. Just as her eyelids gave into the weight of grogginess, her head fell to the side, unable to hold itself up any longer. Instead of landing on the window as expected, her head fell on something much softer, much warmer. Whatever her head now rested on, Ran paid no heed to it and slipped into a begrudgingly welcomed sleep.

Matt tensed once Ran's head fell on his shoulder. He sent a glance down at her sleeping form. Her chest moved up and down at a steady pace, signifying that she was now fully asleep. Whether it was on purpose or not, the action made Matt feel a bit uncomfortable. It wasn't like he ever had a girlfriend or any other person who had ever rested their head on him before. Of course, there was the time when Mello fell asleep on Matt's shoulder on the train but the person across from them thought that Mello was a girl anyways, so it didn't make a difference. Well at least, Matt _thought_ she assumed Mello was a girl since she said: "You two make a cute couple, hope everything goes well." There was a chance that she thought they were the other way around but Matt really needed to focus on the matter at hand (and driving).

Matt attempted to gently shake her off but her temple seemed to be glued to his shoulder. While sparing the road a few glances between his actions, Matt took his one hand off the wheel and slowly lifted Ran from him and let her head fall in the other direction onto the window. Despite the light bang of her skull hitting the window, Ran didn't so much as groan which meant that the transition had not disturbed her sleep. He sent one last glance her way, taking notice of Ran's peaceful expression. Even though it was late afternoon, she still appeared to be sleeping so well. Her steely expression was hidden by a sleepy mask while her lips parted ever so slightly to display just how innocent such a rude girl could appear. Her expression was tempting enough for Matt to call "cute". Despite her strange choice in hair dye and her very young appearance, she still looked quite cute, though her young appearance may have added to that.

The car finally came to a stop in the parking lot of the apartment building. Matt pulled the car into park and clicked his seatbelt off. Before exiting the vehicle, Matt reached across towards the sleeping passenger and gave her shoulder a firm shake.

"Hey, Ran, wake up."

Said girl merely groaned a few inaudible words as she shifted into a more comfortable position.

"Raaaan." Matt gave her shoulder another shake, being sure to make it more vigorous than the other before it. It only took one shake more before Ran's brown orbs shot open, her body following suit with a snort. Her giant eyes glanced towards the person who had awoken her, squinting at him in a skeptical manner.

"What?" She asked in a "why-did-you-wake-me-up?" manner.

"We're back." He answered before getting out of the car.

Ran's skeptical expression fell as she slowly got out of the car afterwards. She slammed the door closed then jogged over to Matt who had already gotten a great deal ahead of her. The entered the building and started for the elevator. Matt entered immediately after the metal doors slid open; Ran on the other hand, glanced back at the sound of a low screech. Her eyes squinted for a short moment in order to search for the source of the noise. It didn't take long before the source rounded a corner and dashed towards the elevator. Ran immediately recognized him as the child from yesterday. He ran into the elevator (which was being held open by Matt), being followed by a little girl who appeared to be very angry for whatever reason. Ran raised a brow at the pleading boy.

"Hurry, Matt, close the door! Don't let her catch me!"

Ran glanced at the fuming girl who was close to reaching the elevator.

"Come here right now, Trevor!" She screeched.

Ran stepped inside the elevator, paying no more attention to the children's quarrel. Matt pressed the button to close the doors then pushed the floor that they needed to reach. Luckily for the young boy, the doors slid closed just before the girl could enter in her rage. The boy, Trevor, gave a sigh of relief as he held a hand to his panting chest.

"That girl's crazy!" He exclaimed before pushing a button of his own.

"Why was she chasing you?" Ran inquired. She felt a small spark of curiosity as to why he was being chased by a girl that was in such a rage.

"Nothing! She's just mean!" He defended with furrowed brows.

Ran raised a skeptical brow at the young boy but had no time to say any further word before the elevator came to a stop and he exited. Before the doors closed and obscured all sight of Trevor, he gave a wide, toothy grin while waving a goodbye.

"Thanks, Matt!"

"You're welcome."

The elevator began to move upwards once again. Ran shoved her hands into her coat pockets as she sent a glance towards Matt.

"You seem pretty familiar with him." She stated while leaning her back to the beige wall.

"Yeah, he's the apartment's troublemaker."

"Oh, I see. Kind of reminds me of a kid I used to know in fourth grade. He always used to cause a heap of trouble for all the teachers. He also had a crush on my friend, Terry." Ran spoke the last sentence with partial disgust laced in her tone.

Her reminiscing provided a bit of amusement for Matt. It was the first time she actually sported a soft expression paired with a calm tone. Her eyes remained glued to the floor until the metal doors slid open and they both exited. They walked down the wide hall of endless doors and apartment numbers until they reached the correct number. Matt stuck the key in the lock and opened the door, waltzing in first. Ran followed in afterwards and began unbuttoning her coat before neatly hanging it on the rack of hooks (which had remained hidden until Ran had cleaned the apartment). She quickly stole Matt's vest before it could lazily be thrown on the nearest object. She hung it on the hook next to her own coat, being sure the hang it straight.

Ran exhaled quite loudly as she practically dragged her groggy body towards the bathroom.

"Where are you going?" Matt asked as he flopped himself on the couch in front of a computer.

"I'm taking a shower then I'm heading to bed. I don't care how early it is, I'm exhausted." Ran answered in an exasperated tone of voice.

She slammed the door behind her, adding a little too much accidental force to it. Using her hands, the teen attempted to rub all of the heavy temptations of sleep out of her eyes, which worked for a short amount of time. Ran approached the pristine bathtub/shower and pulled back the navy curtain. A small smile tugged on the tips of her lips at the sight of her handy work in cleaning. She had to admit that she was a damn good cleaner, possessing the skill to transform event the messiest of homes into beautiful and bearable environments.

She reached for the faucet and turned it to the right. Unfortunately, no water flowed from the showerhead. She turned it to the left. Still nothing. Ran furrowed her brows, slightly before attempting to pull the faucet forwards a few times, only resulting the same. She made another attempt in making it work by pressing the knob down. She repeated each attempt at a fast rate, each failure causing her anger to grow larger and larger. She began to get slightly rough with the handle, losing any bit of patience and gentleness that once existed within her. Ran stepped into the bathtub in order to get a better hold on the faucet.

"Matt! Come here! Your shower is broken!" She yelled, loudly, still proceeding to push, pull and hit the knob.

There was a low shuffle sound as Matt entered the bathroom. As if he brought with him a cloud of bad luck, Ran slammed her fist into the tile just above the faucet with anger powering the strike and upon the impact, the showerhead gushed huge, endless amount of icy water onto Ran. It flowed from the showerhead like a fire hose, drenching right through her cloths and causing her hair to fall into soggy mess. Despite the water being as cold as ice, Ran felt the heat of her anger boil inside her as Matt stifled a laugh at her misfortune.

"I forgot to mention that the shower is a bit kinky."

"Matt...I'm going to shove those goggles down your throat if you don't...stop...laughing." She threatened menacingly; her venomous voice was enough to make even a pro wrestler shudder. Though he had to admit that it was hilarious when something such as this happened to Ran. It truly was.

**A/N: Done! YAY! Well I hope this was an enjoyable chapter, the sooner you review and stuff, the sooner we can join forces to save the world!**

**QUICK QUESTION: I'd actually like to know how old you might think Ran is, so feel free to tell me your guess on her age if you want (Why do I feel like I've already announced her age? Hmm...)**

**Well, a weird fact about Ran that will probably never be hinted to or mentioned in the story is: She has a clock fetish and used to own a collection of vintage clocks until she sold them all in order to get extra money. Haha, just felt like mentioning that since I had planned to put it in a later chapter but the idea got scrapped XD**

**Anyways, in reply to:**

**anonnnnnnn: (love the name by the way XP) Thank you for your opinion, it is greatly appreciated! I'm very happy to hear that Ran is off to a good start so thank you very much **

**Payton c: Yes, I had to resist the urge to cry when both Matt and Mello died, they were the BEST in all of Death Note. Anyways, thank you so, so much for such a nice review. Being told that my writing is amazing is such a wonderful feeling **


	4. Enter Evangeline

Enter Evangeline

_I don't own Death Note or any of its characters_

**Wow turns out I **_**did**_** mention Ran's age in the first chapter...how quickly we can forget XD Well that made me feel stupid but anyways, we can just forget that it happened, yes? Great!**

**))))))))))))(((((((((((((**

Matt rummaged through his drawer of clothes, which was close to being empty considering the small amount of clothing that he actually owned. Compared to Mello's wide collection of various articles (which could most likely fill two entire walk-in closets), Matt owned nothing. Mello would repeatedly state that it was sad that Matt only had about fives shirts and four pairs of pants in his wardrobe that he actually wore. Matt would defend himself by pointing out that not everyone was so obsessed with retaining their make-believe title of "world's best dresser".

Since Ran's clothes were drowned in her unpleasant encounter with the showerhead, she had no choice but to discard them and hang them outside on the balcony to dry. As a temporary replacement, she had to borrow some of Matt's attire, much to her dismay. She only hoped that Matt owned something that may fit her, even if it be a few sizes bigger than her normal clothing.

At the moment, Ran sat engulfed with the feeling of embarrassment and awkwardness as she sat on the edge of his unmade bed in nothing but a small bath towel. Her cheeks were tinted with a pink hue while her lips were pinned down in a frown of discomfort. All her life, Ran had never worn a single thing that exposed more than her calves in front of anyone, more importantly, a _boy_. She was fairly shy about her body and that fact that the towel stretched down to her mid thighs was undeniably dreadful. And it wasn't as if she could pull it down any further. If she _were_ to do that then she would be exposing cleavage which, in Ran's mind, was not worth covering two more inches of her legs. The only thought that shone brightly in poor Ran's mind was to get clothes that covered her properly and then to find a nice corner to die in.

She shifted uncomfortably for the twenty-first time in the past couple minutes, which felt like a lifetime in Ran's opinion. Her movement caused the mattress to creak, loudly. The noise drew Matt's attention as he glanced back at her disturbed form. Ran had not taken notice of his eyes that rested on her for a short moment, for her own gaze seemed glued to the ground while her back hunched in a concealing manner. Even the densest of people could recognize why Ran was so uncomfortable which was why Matt turned around quickly in order to continue his search.

He had not cleaned out his drawer in a few years which resulted in a large, messy clutter of long-forgotten clothes that he had not even touched ever since moving there. Most of the articles found in this overwhelming heap, were a size or two too small for him by now but despite that, most of them would most likely not fit Ran. That posed a major obstacle. Ran needed clothes but not ones that would slide off her small body and their difference in height made everything worse. Why couldn't she be at least three inches taller? Ran wouldn't even be able to fit into the smallest clothes that he owned.

After spending a minute more of shuffling around in the drawer, Matt finally settled on one of his old, striped shirts that he figured could work in a pinch. Matt pulled it from the bottomless pit of clothing and tossed it onto the bed. The shirt landed on the edge, only just landing on the mattress. Its landing tore Ran's attention from the floor, finally as she examined the article with hopeful eyes.

"There you go." Matt spoke, triumphantly.

The hopefulness in Ran's dark eyes leaked away like tears before being replaced with an incredibly skeptical gaze. She quite resembled Mello as she examined the shirt in that manner with _that_ look in her eyes. Her eyes shot up towards him, narrowed.

"What about pants?" She snapped as if she were addressing an enemy.

"You don't need them." Said he, only to receive the most angered and disgusted expression the Ran's uncomfortably influenced face could muster.

"Relax, I'm kidding." He added with a chuckle before turning back to the drawer.

A loud scoff was echoed from behind him, obviously Ran displaying her un-amusement in his joke. She pulled the shirt onto her lap, feeling slight relief wash over her at the fact that her thighs were finally covered. The shirt Ran had been given appeared to be quite large and would most defiantly be quite baggy but Ran paid no heed, as long as she wouldn't have to spend any more time wearing only a towel.

After a few more moments of rummaging, Matt pulled out a pair of pants that he figured worked best for her. Just like the shirt, Matt threw the pants in her direction before pushing the drawer closed. Ran caught them just as Matt provided an explanation to support his choice.

"I figured that a pair of jeans would be too big for you so those track pants should do. That way you can tighten the waist part all you want and you won't look as weird."

"Alright, now get out." Ran snapped as she clutched the newly presented clothing close to her chest.

Matt stood from his knees before making his way to the door. All the while, being followed by Ran's gaze as if she expected him to pounce on her like a predator would its prey. Once the wood door made a snapping noise, signifying that it was latched closed, Ran's overly stiff spine loosened and her muscles finally unravelled from the twisted knots they had formed with one another.

She rested the scrunched clothing onto her bare lap. She studied them carefully-skeptical even-as if she were waiting for them to burst into flames, resembling those of her eyes. Ran had no idea why all the bad things had to happen to her. She wasn't a terrible person deep down and it wasn't as if she had done horrible things in her life that caused her to deserve all of these punishments. Sure, she's a hacker that steals money and messes with people but that's part-time. How is it that Ran seemed to have the worst luck of all?

"_Maybe I'm just being tested."_ Ran thought to herself while exhaling loudly.

After staring intently at her new attire, Ran stood from her spot and set them down on the bed. She removed the towel and as soon as it hit the floor, the young woman rushed to slip the clothes on at an alarming speed, dreadfully paranoid that Matt might walk in at any moment. She finally got into the baggy outfit, triumphantly tying the strings of the track pants into a very tight bow. Ran smoothed out any pesky wrinkles that had formed from months of being stuffed in a drawer. She approached the mirror that hung on the wall in order to look at herself (or at least the part of herself that the mirror allowed her to see).

The shirt had to be at least three sizes too big and its stretched out collar hung off of one shoulder while the sleeves covered her small, rough hands that were used to being covered anyways. The hem of the shirt reached the same point as the towel; her mid thigh. The pants fit like a pair of oversized pajama pants and its strings were pulled to death around her waist. Good thing Ran wasn't picky, though she couldn't deny her distaste in the dreadful black stripes the soiled the article. Out of everything she was wearing, the only thing that actually fit her was her underwear (which was unfortunately wet but she refused to give them up...because that would be gross).

"I feel like a Barbie doll wearing human clothes." Ran stated. "Oh well."

Just as she began to fix the collar of the shirt, the reflection of a small, black blob scurried across the room and under the bed. Ran's dark eyes grew wide, expressing all of the horror she felt after catching sight of whatever it could have been. Her tumbling thoughts and fears of the identity of the blob were displayed like a film in her mind. A rat? A racoon? God damn, what if it was a possum? Those things are freaking vicious, Ran knew from experience of being bitten by one as a child.

Ran's head slowly turned to the bed where the newly discovered beast now resided. She crept closer, taking cautious steps in order to remain quiet. Unfortunately, one pesky floorboard decided to betray her and creaked loudly beneath her weight. The sound caused Ran to cringe, slightly but her gaze remained fixed on the dark abyss of under the bed. Suddenly, a scratchy, ear-piercing growl came from said area. The sound quirked one of Ran's brows. With a noise like that, she had no valid guess as to what the animal-the thing could be but hey, anything could be found dwelling around in the mess that had only just been cleaned.

Perhaps it could be a mixed, mutant breed of guinea pig or some entirely new species that was created from all the bacteria that had once existed in the apartment. There was yet another growl that tore Ran from her reasoning and back into reality. Ran hesitantly lowered herself to her knees and peered beneath the bed. The darkness obscured any sight of the animal. Her eyes squinted as they trailed all around the dark abyss until landing on a green, leering gaze. It growled once more, this time even more sinister and intimidating then before.

Ran jumped back, letting out a scream of surprise and fright. Her scream must have been louder than she thought because no later after she had let out the yelp, there were the speeding thumps of footsteps coming towards the room. The door swung open, revealing a confused and seemingly startled Matt.

"What?!" He said.

"T-there's a _thing_ under the bed!" Ran exclaimed while scooting herself farther away from the scene.

Her exclamation caused Matt to lose his confused demeanor as he stood in the doorway for a moment more, head cocked to the side slightly.

"Was it growling?" He asked, much to Ran's surprise.

"Yeah, it sounds to me like a rat or something." She explained, the twinge of fear still twitching in her stomach.

A small grin placed itself on Matt's face, only pushing Ran's confusion even further. He sauntered towards the bed and dropped to his knees.

"Ah, so this is where you've been hiding." He stated before reaching out towards the leering creature.

Ran's eyes grew even wider at his actions as she stammered a: "W-what do you think you're doing?!" Soon after, Matt pulled the straggly rat-thing from its lair and cradled it in his arms. Ran's saucer-like eyes slowly lowered as her brows knit together.

There, being cuddled to Matt's chest was a small, skinny kitten. Its clumpy, raven fur was dotted with blotches of white while its fuzzy paws sported a cinnamon-orange hue. The kittens gloomy eyes were filled with a look of pure bliss as Matt's gloved finger began to scratch under its furry neck.

Ran stared at the small cat, almost allowing herself to fall into a trance from the adorable aura of the animal. She quickly shook her head before snapping her signature glare towards Matt.

"You have a kitten?"

"Yup, this is Evangeline."

"_This_ is Evangeline? I thought she was your imaginary girlfriend."

"Well...she _is_ a girl."

"Well why didn't you _tell _me that you had a damn cat girlfriend?! That way, I wouldn't have freaked out!" Ran said, her voice's volume slowly rising.

Her fear was now completely replaced with anger, her glare darting down to Evangeline. She quickly averted her gaze as it threatened to soften at the sight of the adorable fluff ball. "And why the hell does she growl like that?"

"She's just hungry."

Hungry cats don't growl like _that._" She retorted.

"Well...she _was_ a stray kitten before I brought her home, so it could be anything." Matt stated before getting to his feet, still holding the cat close to his chest, resembling a mother holding her newborn.

"Oh so you're _that_ kind of guy, huh?" Ran spat, her eyes reeling as she stood as well.

"What kind of guy?" Matt asked as he stared for the door, Ran trailing close behind.

She craned her neck over his shoulder while she spoke in an attempt to be certain that he was listening. "You know, saves the dying kitten, gets the girl, always wins the battle and shit." Ran finished her list with a mock solute. "Actually, scratch that. You're more like the sappy sidekick no-one cares about."

"Ouch, that was harsh don't you think?" Matt said with a grin still in place, clearly indicating that he was unaffected by her harsh statement.

Ran's eyes narrowed as she dropped herself back to her normal height. Matt set Evangeline down on the ground before making his way to one of the kitchen's pantries. Evangeline jogged behind him, her small paws padding on the wood floor. She rubbed her side along his leg, affectionately. The small mew that rolled out of the kitten's mouth almost managed to crack a smile on Ran's steely face but was unsuccessful. Instead, she observed from a distance, baring a soft expression.

Her eyes slowly trailed up to Matt who was in the middle of shuffling a box of kibble in order to pour it into the small bowl that sat in the corner. Even through the tinted orange of the goggles, Ran was still able to spot the twinkle of affection in his eyes as he watched to thin kitten dig into the cat food.

Now that Ran had a close look at Matt, her curiosity sparked on the matter of his eye colour. She had never given it any thought until now and simply brushed off the fact that they were being masked from the world with those goggles. From afar they almost appeared to be some dark shade of green but then again, they could be a hazel that only _appeared_ green because of the orange tint. Or perhaps they were just a simple brown like so many others.

Ran was not only curious about the colour f his eyes but also what colour he saw the _world_. Did everything appear orange behind those goggles of his? If so, than that would mean that he had most likely never seen what she technically looked like due to the fact that he only saw her as orange. But maybe she was giving to much thought to the matter. Honestly, it was ridiculous. Of course he must take those things off at some point; there was no way that he would shower with them or even _sleep _with them, for that matter. It was completely absurd.

Matt glanced up from the purring Evangeline. He had a feeling that someone was watching him and it turned out, he was right. Ran's hardened expression was unusually soft and almost kind as she gazed at his crouched figure in a dazing state. She did not seem to notice that Matt was now mirroring her stare, right into her eyes. He had mostly expected her to instantly snap out of her daze and narrow her eyes into that glare that had become to very familiar to him over the past two days (which wasn't really a good thing). His theory was proved wrong, however. Instead, Ran's eyes bore into his skull glazed over with deep thought.

As Matt returned the gesture, he had noticed something that had not entered his thoughts throughout the entire time he had known Ran (which was only two days but still). He had not yet seen Ran's eye colour. It was clear, even with the tint of his goggles that her hair was some shade of red but her eyes were just dark pools of mystery. They were defiantly a dark hue and it was quite obvious that they were not as black as they appeared. Green maybe? Nah, now that he looked closer they looked to be more of a blue...or brown...or hazel. Damn, he had to admit that no matter how much he loved his goggles, they could be a little annoying at times.

Evangeline drew closer to Matt and dragged the side of her face along his knee, begging for more food. She mewed up at her owner, receiving no response whatsoever. She turned to Ran in hopes of gaining _someone's_ attention. Ran's head cocked to the side as her gaze slowly dropped to the desperate cat that was begging her little heart out. Ran blinked away the glaze in her eyes.

"Huh?" She murmured, realization hitting her upside the head soon after.

She took notice of the fact that she had been staring straight at Matt for the past minute, lost in thought. She mentally thanked Evangeline for dragging her back to reality. Only seconds after, she caught sight of Matt's unmoving gaze that was fixated on her. It seemed that her movement had tore him from his own thoughts as well, only he managed to recover much faster than Ran.

Matt stood up from his spot, throwing his arms up in a long stretch. Ran's eyes narrowed into their usual glare, something that seemed to come much too naturally to the young woman.

"You know, if you glare too much like that then you're gonna get premature wrinkles." Matt stated, his grin was twitching with cockiness as always.

"Shut up, idiot." Ran scoffed, exasperatingly.

"Well anyways, get your coat; we have to go out again." He said while making his way towards the hook holing his vest.

"Out? Where?" Ran asked while raising a brow.

"To a magical place called the convenience store." He replied, pulling in the vest.

"Why?" She questioned once again.

"Because I need more cigarettes." And with that he was out the door.

Ran's face flattened into one of displeasure at the fact that she was being dragged along to the convenience store all because of his damn addiction. Though, she could always take advantage of the occurrence and get him to buy her more painkillers and maybe even a treat. Ran jogged towards the door, a new feeling of slight sinister manipulation fueling her. Once out the door, Matt locked it before they made their way done the hall and finally out the apartment building after a rather cramped trip in the elevator.

The drive was surprisingly short since the convenience store turned out to be just around the corner from the building. A small ring of a bell echoed through the ghost-like store once they entered. The bright light fixtures illuminated the pristine shelves that were cluttered with products, junk food and other stock. Upon entry, Matt made a sharp turn for the counter; Ran guessed that that was where he would find the reason for this little venture at 4:15. Ran made her way down the short isle of cosmetics and medicines. Ran grabbed the first bottle of 'Long-lasting painkillers' that she set eyes on before starting towards a small shelf that held many assorted drinks.

Ran spent a brief moment to scan the titles of each drink before grabbing a pack of six energy drinks. She usually drank energy drinks whenever she was up late at night, hacking into difficult systems. Sure, it was quite unhealthy to have so many but sometimes coffee just didn't seem to do the trick for her.

Ran came up from behind Matt and slammed both products on the counter, causing the employee to jump in surprise. Matt gazed at her items before trailing towards the young woman that had chosen them.

"Energy drinks, huh?"

"Hey, you drag me along, you buy me something." Ran retorted with narrowed eyes.

The jittery clerk shot glances from Matt to Ran before speaking. "So...all these items together than?"

"Yeah." Matt answered before pulling out his wallet and paying.

Without bothering to wait for the clerk to pack her items in a bag, she grabbed the pack of drinks from the counter and the bottle from the clerk's hand before exiting through the glass door with Matt following behind. Immediately after exiting the store, Matt opened his pack of cigarettes and popped one in his mouth. He flicked the lighter which produced a small flame before bringing it up to the end and lighting it.

"You seriously can't wait until we get back?" Ran scoffed, only receiving a puff of smoke blown into her area of breathing which only made her annoyance grow larger.

Ran rolled her eyes in a dramatic manner as she dropped her butt to the concrete, now sitting on the curb. She set the pack of energy drinks down next to her. Ran roughly pulled one out, paying no heed to the now torn box as she popped the can open. She brought the aluminum rim to her lips and took a long sip of the blue liquid, feeling quite satisfied after the fact.

Matt lowered himself beside her (though still retaining quite a bit of distance between them), resting his elbows on his knees. After exhaling a puff of smoke, Matt sent a brief glance towards Ran before returning his gaze to the front.

"So why'd you become a hacker in the first place?" He asked. Though he was simply asking this question as a conversation-starter, Matt couldn't deny his genuine curiosity of the matter.

"Well _that's_ a question that came out of nowhere." She spoke, exasperation dripping from every syllable but she answered nonetheless. "I don't know. My mom couldn't hold down a job, we needed money and I was pretty computer savvy. What about you, though? How'd you get set up with the leather poodle?"

"You mean Mello?" Matt chuckled at her unique interpretation of his blonde friend. Being around the other mafia members quite a lot, Matt had heard some pretty explicit names for Mello but never, in all his life had anyone referred to Mello as a "poodle". Matt didn't want to seem like a traitor but the name was surprisingly fitting, though he was not certain as to why.

"Well, we grew up in the same orphanage and stuff. I don't even remember _how_ we became friends, to be honest. The only clear memory I have is when we first met. He gave me a black eye and called me a wimp." Matt admitted, a frown tugging his lips downwards at the unpleasant memory.

Ran blinked as she turned her head in his direction. There a brief moment of silence that stretched itself between them until Ran's lips cracked into a smirk of pure entertainment. She suddenly began to giggle, the small giggles shortly turning into a long fit of loud laughter as she tilted her head backwards. Matt, however looked nothing but displeased at her raging laughter.

"Sure, laugh now but it wasn't funny at the time. I got teased and laughed at for two weeks, even _after_ it healed. That's exactly why I started wearing goggles; to cover up the swelling."

"God, I wish I could've seen that! And then you actually started wearing goggles to hide your fat, nasty eye! " Ran snorted, her laughter just barely beginning to die down. She was clearing having fun hearing his stories of misfortune, mostly because for once it wasn't _her_ telling the story. "W-what, do you still have an ugly scar or something? Is t-that why you still wear those damn t-things?!" She trembled between howls of laughter and giggles.

A long sigh rolled out of Matt's mouth before he turned back to face forward, taking another inhale from his cigarette. He allowed Ran to continue her laughing fit, expecting (or at least hoping) that it would be done in another minute. Unfortunately for Matt, her laughter went on for a much longer period of time, long enough for her to start clutching her sides from the cramps that the fit was providing.

"It's like Wammy's all over again..."

**Yet another chapter...COMPLETE! I thought I'd add a very, very brief back story on Mello, Matt and Matt's goggles in this chapter but I didn't want to get too detailed with it because this wasn't meant to be a "spill-your-guts-and-tell-your-back-story" kind of chapter, plus its way too early for that. Also a very brief description on Ran's features was given but unfortunately, that is probably all you will get on her description. I wanted to keep it open and stay out of detail with her appearance description so that the reader has more freedom to use their imagination on her appearance. Though, if some would prefer, I can add a note in the next chapter describing how I picture her and then you can read it if you want? Or I can leave it open, it doesn't matter **

**Heh, so were you guys expecting Evangeline to be Matt's kitten? I was originally going to make it Ran's cat but I changed my mind :3**

**XGuestX- Excellent question! Her name is pronounced as the past tense of run. I was originally going to name her Randy and figure that later in the story I would make Matt call her Ran for short. I thought Ran had a better ring to it so I made her name Ran instead of Randy. I believe the name means Shield but I can't really remember.**

**Hope you all enjoyed this chapter **


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